Mass Effect Drabbles
by mattgerrard
Summary: This is where I'm going to post random one-shot stories from the Mass Effect universe. Each chapter will be a different story of anywhere from 100 to a few hundred or more words. If you're looking for something quick, browse on through. Enjoy!
1. You Probably Shouldn't Eat That

"James stabbed the lizard with his field knife. He skinned the little beast. It still twitched. James jumped the first time and ignored it after that.

"You probably shouldn't eat that," Garrus said.

James impaled the lizard on a stick and stuck it over their camp fire. "I probably shouldn't have lit a camp fire, either, with those elcor after us. But without smoke we're going to attract rippers. You think angry elcor are bad?"

"My friend, if I was worried about the elcor, I wouldn't have let you light the fire. The rippers don't scare me either."

"What does scare you?"

"You eating an ikki lizard without removing the glands behind its head first."

James stared at Garrus. Was he pranking him? James sighed. Damned turians all looked alike. He hadn't yet learned to read when they were happy, sad, or messing with you, other than general body language, and Garrus kept his cool poker face better than anyone. He took the lizard back out of the fire. It had a flat, spade-shaped head, like a snake, with two bumps on the top. James poked at them with an armored glove.

"That's them," Garrus said.

"What are they?"

"Notice how they don't have eyes?" Garrus said. James nodded. "They're a metallic solution that keeps them oriented against the magnetosphere so they can find their way."

"Cool. So what?"

Garrus chuckled. "You're good with a gun, but you really need to learn some chemistry. When that metal hits the hydrochloric acid in your stomach, your belly will go boom like you just swallowed a bomb."

James snorted. When Garrus' expression didn't change, he asked, "You're kidding, right?"

"If you eat the whole thing, let me hold your med kits. Then don't worry—I won't say 'I told you so.'"

James cut the glands off and resumed cooking the lizard. Garrus leaned back against his backpack and gazed up at the stars. "Much better. Now we can enjoy our evening."

James shook his head. After they weren't being chased by land tanks and rippers he'd have to look that one up.


	2. That Time of the Month

"Alenko. It's good to see you again." Feron's voice overflowed with disdain. Kaidan smirked. The drell looked healthier than Kaidan's last visit. Color in his cheeks. Eyes dark and shiny. Kaidan wasn't sure that was a good thing.

That time of the month again. Shepard insisted that they pick up intelligence from Feron face to face, to maintain security. Kaidan understood. He didn't have to like the job.

"Feron. What do you have for us?"

"Blue Suns raiding eezo mines in the Traverse. Here are the locations." Feron handed Kaidan a data chip. Kaidan scanned the chip. Feron folded his arms. "You don't trust me."

"Shepard and Liara trust you. That's good enough," Kaidan said.

"Cagey as ever. I miss our conversations when you're not here."

Kaidan's skin crawled. "What are the Suns after, other than eezo?"

"If I knew, I would have told you."

Kaidan's sigh burned the back of his throat. Any angrier and his dark energy aura would glow. "Feron, Liara can do the most good with us."

"You don't know me at all," Feron hissed.

Kaidan put his hand on his shoulder. "The mission's more important. You can't let your feelings blind you." Like Kaidan had done on Horizon. The memory of how he'd acted still sickened him.

Feron pushed Kaidan's hand away. "Just keep her safe."

"I'll tell her you miss her."

"I didn't say that."

"Not in so many words."

Kaidan walked away. Feron didn't thank him, or wish him well. There was always next month.


	3. Aria's Guest

"Give her the counter-agent," Aria said. A batarian injected Tali'Zorah using a hypodermic gun meant for cattle. They didn't have anything else powerful enough to penetrate the layers of self-sealing protection in the quarian's suit.

Tali'Zorah stirred. Aria saw her eyes blinking slowly through her face mask. "Keelah. My head. What did I... _What_?" Aria smiled as those bleary bright eyes focused on her.

Tali tried to get up, but Aria had tied her hands and wrists herself. The batarian caught her as fell. Tali continued to struggle. "Get away from me! Get the hell away from me!"

"It's a good thing quarians wear suits. I think this one bites," Aria said. The batarian chuckled on cue. Aria didn't like him. He laughed at all her jokes, like a puppet. He stepped away. Tali managed to stay upright as she slid to the floor. Aria filed that away. Good balance. Don't underestimate her.

"Tali'Zorah, I'm Aria T'Loak. Your headache will pass in a moment. I have an offer for you."

"I know who you are," Tali said. Aria smiled again. The little thing reminded her of an angry lap dog. Tali continued, "You drugged me and I'm tied up. Shove your offer."

"A week ago my largest mining drill struck a deposit of element zero like nothing we've never seen before. It blunted the drill head and burned out a motor the size of a drive core."

"Get another drill." Tali continued to work her restraints.

Aria lifted one hand. Tali flew into the ceiling head-first and floated slowly back down. Tali cried out. A stream of quarian swear words flowed out of her vocal filter. It couldn't be flattering, but it all sounded like flowers to Aria. She liked Tali's voice.

"Do I have your attention?" Aria asked.

Tali breathed slow, harsh breaths. Aria could sense her fear. Her breathing slowed down more. She was thinking. Good.

"What do you want from me?"

Aria nodded. Good. "I can replace a drill head, and a drive motor. I've mined enough eezo out of this rock to know when I've hit a wall. I need a mechanical genius. You're going to modify my drill to cut through that vein of whatever it is."

"And then I'm free to go?"

"Be a good girl and you'll get a parting gift. I want us to be friends."

Tali snorted. "More like you don't want to be Shepard's enemy."

"Either way. Do we have a deal?"

Tali sighed. She nodded tightly. "Let's get this over with."

"Good." Aria got up to leave the room. The batarian followed her.

"Hey. Wait!" Tali twisted around. She lost balance and hit the deck in a clang that made Aria's ears ring. From the floor, Tali yelled, "Untie me!"

The door closed behind them. Aria almost wished she'd stayed to watch the little suit rat struggle.

Tali waited a full minute after that cold-hearted bitch and her friend left, to make sure they were gone. "I thought they'd never leave," she said.

Her nimble fingers undid the restraints around her hands in seconds. One thing about creatures with five-fingered hands: they always underestimated the strength and dexterity of those with three.


	4. The Cold, Hard Truth

_Prompt: Shepard / The Council – The Cold, Hard Truth_

The turian Councilor brought up a map of the batarian home world. Shepard frowned as he watched the Reaper and friendly troop numbers filling the screen. The Councilor said, "Your efforts rallying the batarians have borne fruit, Shepard. We estimate there are a hundred thousand civilians who have formed a resistance against the Reapers."

"On Khar'shan? It's a lost cause. The Reapers flattened the whole sector in the first month of the war."

"The batarians are proud. Many of them would rather die fighting for their home world than live as exiles elsewhere."

Shepard had a headache. They dodged Reaper forces for four days finding the batarian Pillars of Strength in the Khar'shan cluster, an artifact to help rally survivors on the Citadel. They had felt like mice trying to stay in the shadows while ebon giants sought to crush them. "Can we evacuate them?"

"Even if we could, we doubt many would. They're asking for weapons. Supplies. More troops to help liberate their world."

"Liberate..." Shepard tried to think it through. His tactical mind threw it back in his face. The batarians had no backup, no numbers, no troops, and no time. Earth was barely holding on. The krogans had finally evened the odds on Palaven. "No. We can't open another front."

"We can't simply leave them," the salarian Councilor protested.

"It's hard enough to fight when we're doing everything right. It's impossible to fight when people are throwing their lives away."

"What do you propose we do?" the turian Councilor asked.

Shepard closed his hands into fists. "Evacuate them, or arm them. Every day they hold on is one more day someone else can survive. If they stay, they're buying the rest of the galaxy time with their lives."

"You're willing to sacrifice the batarian people?"

"It's their choice. Not mine."


	5. I Am Human

Lilith slept, or imagined she slept. Peaceful pain prickled all over her body. Her thoughts had so meaning. It felt like a dull, horrible nightmare, the kind where little things with a dozen legs crawl all over your body in the dark, and you can't see them, or react to them. It's the shadow of someone else's body a lifetime away. You would scream if you had a mouth.

She couldn't see. She remembered a dull knock. She had heard a dull knock, and through the shell of the pod, had seen the blurred, distorted image of a human in black armor and someone behind him. She had reached for him.

And felt her body dissolving.

Lilith screamed soundlessly in the dark. Every cell what she imagined of her body clutched in horror as another consciousness, cruelly majestic and unstoppably powerful, swept its gaze over her. She remembered being a little girl, waking up in the middle of the night, her terror-stricken eyes screwed shut because she was completely certain the monster that took childrens' breath stood over her bed.

She imagined she had a body. She could almost move her fingers. She felt... so sleepy... she had no strength at all. She felt a heartbeat. Something pulsed blood through the empty place. But... not her heart. And not her blood.

 _You are more than you were. You have ascended_ , a bass rumble whispered. She felt it in every cell of her body. Instinctively, whatever remained of her cringed in horror.

 _No! Get away from me!_

She heard other voices whisper. Not whisper—their voices were small, like hers. They sounded like leaves in autumn. Nothing at first, then louder, louder, until it became the screeching sound of thousands of mice crawling inside her brain.

 _Where am I_

 _who are you_

 _where's my baby_

 _please help me_

 _what is this_

 _stop_

 _stop_

 _oh God_

 _make it stop_

Lilith screamed.

 _You have ascended._ The rumble felt like her own thoughts. All their thoughts. People screamed.

Lilith screamed, _Get out of my head! Stop!_

 _Ascend_ , the Voice said again. The molasses weight of the Voice's irresistible will drowned her thoughts. The. soft, empty feeling felt good compared to the jagged steel on bone feeling of fear without a body to cushion it.

Lilith cried without tears. She thought of her little boy, Paul. She missed Horizon's sunsets.

 _Ascend._

 _No_ , she whimpered.

The rumble suddenly left them. Lilith didn't understand why.

She felt urgency. Fire. _They are close_ , the Voice thought.

 _They?_ Blearily, she remembered the man in the armor. _Help!_ she screamed soundlessly. _Help us!_

Lilith's focus hazed over. She felt like she was falling asleep.

 _Ascend_ , a faraway Voice whispered. _Ascend_. She felt hypnotized by it.

Lilith held on. _My name is Lilith Marquez,_ she said.

Other voices hung on to hers, like voices to a musical note. The whispers rose and faded. She heard names, hundreds of voices trying to speak together. It gave Lilith strength.

The dark shadows of her world rumbled. She heard the Voice, far away, saying, _I know this hurts you... you cannot resist..._ More. She dreamed of fire again.

A shock ripped through her, like floating under water and then feeling yourself fall through air.

She felt her body again. She could feel it! She tried to swallow and couldn't. Everything ached. Lilith tried to open her eyes. _I want to see_ , she said. The other voices hung on to hers again. She felt stronger. _I need to see. Let me see!_

She opened her eyes.

Lilith saw a cavern, midnight blue, through a kaleidoscope of eyes. Distance felt meaningless. Lilith heard voices above her. She tried to lift her head; she couldn't. Instead she saw cables that pulsed like veins, made of who knew what. They led toward her.

They led into her.

Lilith saw her body—a titanic horror, fleshy yet mechanized, reflecting crimson from what she knew were her eyes.

As Lilith drew her breath to scream, the Voice rang through her mind with evil resolution: _You are ascended. Assuming direct control._

Lilith screamed back, along with the thousands of voices from Horizon colony that had not yet dissolved, _No! I am human!_

She heard the body scream it, too.

The Voice took control, bloody fire surging through the body. Lilith felt vertigo as the body rushed upwards, clambering with only its arms. Thousands of voices screamed. Lilith gazed down at three people: the man in black armor; a raven-haired woman in white; a quarian. She felt like a horrible, helpless god.

The body breathed. Lilith felt like lava pouring up her throat. A jet of plasma soared out of her mouth as the group scattered and dove for cover.

 _No!_ Lilith screamed.

The small voices held on to hers again. For a moment, she felt the body. Lilith let go of the platform. It fell, dropping below the sight line of the group above. Lilith felt a whiplash of fire across her face as the voice reasserted control. The body's hand grabbed the platform and lifted them up again.

Lilith felt the other voices resisting. She cried, _Help me! Everyone, help me!_

The body crested the platform again. It pointed its maw at the man in black armor. The lava fire surged again. With every ounce of strength in her soul, and the others joining her, Lilith pushed the jet of burning light hair-breadths away from the soldier.

The others fired at the body's eyes. Lilith cheered as she became half-blind, and the fire sensation in her skin cooled. She felt more control, then fought like cats thrown into a bag as the other one asserted itself again.

 _Come on! Everyone! Push!_ Lilith screamed.

It couldn't find the one in the armor. The quarian stood in the open. Lilith pushed again. Crimson fire exploded near the alien as she ran—the Voice turned after her, then Lilith and the others pushed it farther and it missed again.

From nowhere—in Lilith's blind spot—a sizzling beam of energy struck her other eye. Lilith laughed as the Voice flailed.

A final, combined blast took the body full in the chest. The fire rushing through Lilith's veins vanished. The small voices of the rest of Horizon colony breathed from the sweet release. She felt herself falling... falling...

 _I love you, Paulie_ , she thought.

The body struck the bottom. Lilith felt a short, lightning-sharp pain as it shattered. Her world exploded again, shards of glass and light everywhere. She flew into a meaningless, timeless place. She felt peace.

Lilith dreamed. She could feel her son's fingers wrap around hers.


	6. Embrace Fear

_Kasumi and Morinth, "interrupted"_

"Come in." Morinth turned on mood lighting near the side hall, but left the couch lit by her view of the skyline. Ilium had the most spectacular view in the galaxy at night. The city lights reminded her of blaze of light in her mind at the moment she joined with her lovers. A snake's grin curled at the edge of her lips at the thought, where her guest couldn't see. Lifting her arms in angelic flourish, she turned and said, "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Yes. The most beautiful thing I've ever seen." Her guest rested a gloved hand on Morinth's face. Her name was Kasumi, though Morinth doubted it was her real name. Even this close, and especially in the shadows, Morinth couldn't see all her face. Kasumi's graceful chin led to full, round lips with a touch of dark paint that set off sparkling, mirthful eyes that stayed hidden under a hood. They reminded Morinth of her own, smooth onyx pearls filled with mystery. Kasumi's eyes hadn't left hers since the moment they met.

"I'm glad you think so." She touched Kasumi's face, caressing her cheek with a feather's touch. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll get us something to drink." She knew her lovers' hearts pounded in anticipation, just before, but she felt her own thumping in her chest. She wanted to embrace her now. Better to play first. To wrap her in feelings like silk, before she realized they were spider threads.

Morinth poured them both glasses of wine. "What is it about you?" she asked. "I can't resist you. Ever since we met, I feel drawn farther and farther in."

"It's danger. You and I embrace it, like a lover. Most people don't understand that. You can fear fire, or water, or wind, or respect them, or embrace them." The musical lilt in Kasumi's voice made Morinth smile. She handed Kasumi her glass as sat down. Kasumi brushed her fingers over Morinth's, then swept them from her hand to her arm. Morinth's heart flew into sweet, soaring thunder. She enjoyed seducing her prey, but loved it even more when they seduced her, too. She imagined the slow-motion beauty of a raptor circling its prey.

"What's life without a little thrill underneath?" Morinth said. They clinked glasses and sipped their wine. Morinth smiled at her mischievously. A little smile played around Kasumi's face in reply.

"And what is it about you?" Kasumi whispered. "You're bold. Deadly. Everything that scares me." She leaned close. Her dark, endless eyes filled her world. "But you don't scare me."

Morinth smiled. Yes. She loved when people embraced their lives fully. They were never more fully alive than the moment that she took them. "You're embracing fear."

Kasumi gazed into her eyes. They shared a timeless moment together.

Now.

"Look into my eyes. Listen to the sound of my voice," Morinth purred.

Kasumi's gaze became pinned to Morinth's eyes. Morinth felt Kasumi's heart beating. She felt tingling below Kasumi's skin, even through her gloves, blood and the raging fire of her nervous system. "It's so beautiful," Kasumi sighed.

"Tell me your deepest desires," Morinth whispered.

"You. Only you."

"Em...brace...," Morinth slurred. Her vision hazed over. The tingling vanished. Morinth blinked. Her biotics went to sleep. "Wh... what?" She started to worry, then darkness crashed on top of her like a wave and she felt nothing at all.

. . .

Kasumi shuddered. She blinked. "Close," she hissed. "Too damned close." She kicked back her own wine and rubbed her arms, trying to get rid of a feeling like millions of electric ants dancing a conga line in her veins.

Morinth lay face-up on the couch, eyes glazed over, her spilled wine glass soaking her lap. She barely breathed. Kasumi checked her eyes and pulse. The drug she'd slipped into the asari's wine was a little cocktail she'd cooked up with a friend on Omega. It contained a chemical to suppress hyperactive biotics, plus a little tranquilizer tailored for asari. Morinth would wake up thirsty and sluggish but no worse for wear.

Oh, and far less wealthy, too. She had a lot of unique, expensive gifts that her lovers had given her before they died. And one of those lovers had been a friend of a friend of Kasumi's.

As she left the apartment, Kasumi keyed her omni-tool to send a text message by dark net transmit protocol. Untraceable, it would take a minute to reach its recipient. Morinth would make Kasumi pay for what she'd done, but not if her mother got to her first.


	7. Beneath the City

_Jacob/Zaeed, "beneath the city"_

Jacob and Zaeed made their way past a handful of Keepers on their way to do who knew what in the bowels of the Citadel. The sludge sucking at their ankles had the consistency of engine grease and the stench of shit and propane. Jacob couldn't begin to imagine what it was. Zaeed didn't seem to care.

"Fucking teamwork. That's what Shepard says to me. He wants to build a goddamn team so he sends me on this mission with you."

Zaeed hadn't shut up about Shepard assigning him to this mission since the moment they left. Jacob had put up with him for six hours. He'd almost f—Jacob shook his head. No. He wasn't going to stop to the mercenary's level. He'd almost had enough. Period.

Their mission was to lay surveillance sensors in the communications network hubs beneath the Citadel. Since the Keepers would remove them eventually, they had to put in new ones every 48 hours. So far, they'd found out that Cerberus planned to attack the Citadel, and they had spies in some of the city's infrastructure. How far the cancer went, they didn't know yet.

Jacob thought they were lost. But so far, Zaeed had found every one of the hubs they'd laid sensors on, by memory.

Zaeed continued, "Cerberus. Well funded. Well executed. Biotics up the ass. Do you even know what a real shithole looks like?"

"You mean this?"

Zaeed laughed. He actually laughed! Jacob was about to smile when Zaeed said, "If that's what passes for intelligence in your organization then we've got bigger problems than the goddamned Collectors. This place may smell like one, but there are far worse places in the galaxy to have to fight."

"I'm not Cerberus anymore. You know that."

"Whatever you say, Taylor. But if you pull a gun on me just know that you'll get ejected with the rest of the sludge."

"I didn't think paranoia was in your skill set, Massani."

Zaeed stopped. He didn't turn around. "Shepard trusts you. I trust you. I just don't like you. You know why that is?"

Jacob folded his arms. "Why don't you tell me?"

Zaeed chuckled. "It's because you think you've got it all wired. You think you see all the angles and you're badass enough to handle anything that comes at you." Zaeed turned. He pointed at the discolored flesh on his face. "Just like I did, before I took the bullet."

Jacob wasn't impressed. "It's not bragging if you can do it," he replied.

"It's bragging until you're coughing up your own blood."

"We're wasting time arguing in a sludge tunnel."

"It's not a waste of time if you goddamned listen."

"I'll take my lessons from Shepard."

Before he knew what was happening, Zaeed drew his pistol and pulled the trigger. It only clicked. Jacob's heart jumped into his throat. Zaeed's smile, already crooked, looked like a gargoyle in the barely-lit tunnel.

Jacob shoved him. "What the hell is that about? You think that was funny?"

Zaeed put away his gun. He said, "Shepard knows a thing or two about being betrayed. So do I. Your Cerberus friends are undermining us at every turn, and you haven't told us shit about what their plans are."

"I don't know what they are!"

"You know how they think, whether you'd like to admit or not." Jacob said nothing. Zaeed continued, "How did it feel, Taylor? Think about it. What are they planning?"

Jacob grit his teeth.


	8. Tigre

_Jack / James_

 _An unusual talent or skill_

"185," James hissed. His chin crossed a pipe wedged between two rows of crates. A thin stream of sweat poured down his right cheek. Blood pulsed through the artery in his neck. He couldn't believe Shepard had broken his record, and done it with a hangover.

Jack poked her head between the crates at the end of the row. He grinned at her. Jack was his kind of soldier—no rules, no fuss, deadly, and with her heart in the right place. James' heart pounded like a kid in high school seeing his crush. Jack wore a black sports bra and beat-up gray shorts, looking like a tattooed tigress in army wear.

"Hey, amigo. What's shakin'?" Jack asked.

"Hey, _Tigre_. I'm settin' a new record!" Easy to say. James' arms felt like they were about to fall off. He lifted his chin over the bar again, his bulky frame swaying upward. "186..." Pull, marine! "187..."

Jack chuckled as she walked to the weight bench. "You still pissed that Shepard broke your record?" Jack picked up a pair of 15-kilo weights and curled them while they talked. James appreciated the prowling movement of her ink as her muscles flexed.

"... 188... There can be only one pull-up champion on this boat," he grunted. He couldn't slack off now that Jack was here. "189..."

"And his name is Shepard."

"Not on my watch! 190...191..."

Jack hissed, the corner of her mouth turning up as she lifted her next rep. She held eye contact with him. Sweat ran down James' body, and it wasn't from the pullups. He used the rush of heat he felt for more fuel. 192. He forgot to even say it.

"You know why I lift weights, James?"

"...193... why?"

"Because biotics rock, but if your amp fries in a pinch, you still need muscle. I like my software to be hardware. Know what I'm saying?"

James completed three reps while she'd talked. "Exactly. People don't get that." He drew a tight, sweaty breath. "196."

"You slowing down? You're not taking a break on me, are you?" she asked.

"Hell no! 197!"

"Come on, Muscles! Make it to 200 and I'll buy you a beer!"

James found new life. He grabbed the fire in Jack's eyes and lifted. "198!"

"That's it!"

"199!"

"The boy scout's got nothing on this!"

"200!"

James dropped down, clapping his hands. Jack's biotics flared. She lifted her weights out of her hands with her biotics. She guided the weights to the bench with her biotics with one hand and tossed James a bottle of water with the other. James felt like a new man. He swigged the water. Thin drops of it spilled down his face. Jack nodded at him proudly. As he finished, James tapped her shoulder. "Thanks, _Tigre_."

 **"** We all have our gifts, Jimmy. Yours is pullups. Mine is motivating kids. Some are bigger than others."

He grinned back at her. "You know me so well. Now how about that beer?"

Jack winked at him. "A deal's a deal. Help me finish my set first?"


	9. On the Floor

_Ashley / Jack, "on the floor"_

 _This story takes place in my alternate universe where the Mass Effect 2 team was on the Normandy in Mass Effect 3._

Scorched and pitted, the Kodiak slammed into the _Normandy_ 's shuttle bay chased by massed Ravager fire. Restraining bolts locked it in. Shepard yelled, "We're in. Go, Joker!"

"Don't gotta tell me twice, boss," Joker said. "They're scratching my girl's paint!"

Shepard threw open the shuttle's hatch. He held on as the frigate flew into high orbit over Tuchanka. He had blood on his face, fragments in his armor, and his left leg felt numb from too much medigel. The exhaust from his rifle's heat sink blew the sweet stench of hot steel and antifreeze into his face. "Mission accomplished," he hissed.

Grunt, Liara, Jack and Ashley piled out behind him. Grunt started to make a wisecrack but shut up when he saw Shepard's face. Liara shuddered and moved away. Jack said nothing. Ashley punched the Kodiak as she stepped out. "What the hell were you thinking, Jack?" she snarled.

Jack spun and pointed at her. "Don't mess with me, Ashtray. I got the fucking job done."

"You nearly got me killed."

"I had to warp that Brute's ass to save your whiny one. You got too close!"

"ENOUGH!" Shepard roared. "Jack! Ashley! On the floor! Now!"

"Get your popcorn," Grunt whispered to Liara.

Shepard glowered at him. He turned his rage back to the two rowdiest members of his team. "You've been at each other's throats for a week and I'm sick of it."

"I don't answer to you, Boy Scout—"

"Don't pull that civilian crap with me, Jack. You're here, you're on the team, you act like it." Ashley snorted. Shepard wheeled on her. "And she saved your life. Get the hell over it."

"Bullshit!"

"I SAID ENOUGH!" Shepard glared from Ashley, to Jack. "Both of you. Fight it out. No biotics, no guns, no other rules."

"Shepard, they need medical attention—" Liara said.

Shepard shook his head. "A few more punches won't kill them."

"Suits me fine," Ashley said.

"Ashtray, fighting that Brute is gonna feel like a massage after I'm done with you."

The she-wolves of the _Normandy_ circled each other. Shepard felt the rage like alligator teeth dragged over naked skin. Their breath sounded like slowly drawn knives.

Liara whispered, "Shepard, this is not a good idea!"

Jack and Ashley raised their fists. Grunt gave his trademark chuckle.

Shepard said, "I know."


	10. If a Krogan Can Cook

_Kai Leng / Grunt – baking a cake_

Kai Leng wished Shepard had killed him. He seethed as lights on the sound stage came up and the light on the camera bot in front of him came on. The galaxy was watching this. His friends could be watching this. He wished the Reapers had killed them all.

Kai smiled. If he could do one thing—one life-saving thing—he could deceive. _I'm enjoying this. It's my pleasure to bring this to the galaxy._ Kai's belly turned to charcoal as he imagined the words. Nothing could humiliate him more than this.

He smiled. "Good evening, Citadel. I'm Kai Leng."

Grunt, Shepard's pet krogan, put his hand on Kai's shoulder. "And I'm Grunt."

Kai smiled. That act hurt more than all four operations on his still-healing abdomen. They both said, "And welcome to _If a Krogan Can Cook, So Can You!_ "

Grunt squeezed Kai's shoulder hard enough to paralyze his arm. Kai kept smiling. The krogan rumbled, deep bass, "We're here to show you how to bake one of Commander Shepard's favorite desserts."

"Death—" Kai's voice hit soprano. Grunt chuckled and eased up his grip on Kai. Kai cleared his throat. "Death by chocolate devil's food cake. We're going to make it from scratch right before your eyes, so you can too."

"So sit down and shut up. We'll be right back."

The studio audience applauded. The camera light went out. The director called clear. Kai couldn't take it any more. He said, "It's sit down and relax, you juvenile idiot."

Grunt shoved a sack of flour into Kai's chest hard enough to break the seams. Kai coughed. He wondered if his stitches broke. The krogan laughed, "Watch who you're calling 'idiot,' no-eyes, or I'll jam a spatula so far up your ass I'll turn off your implants like a light switch."

Grunt's laugh stuck in Kai's belly like Shepard's omni-blade. Kai seriously considered sticking his head in the omni-mixer and ending the night once and for all.


	11. Lights Out

_Kaidan, "power failure"_

Kaidan barely kept up as Shepard went through one of her "whirlwind of battle" moments as they ran down a narrow street in the East End. She riddled a swarm of husks. She was gone before they hit the ground, leaving Kaidan to jump over the bodies like a row of tires at football practice. Shepard snapped a Cannibal's neck with a single blow with the butt of her Mattock. He smiled as he felt his amp cooling down. He'd be ready when they reached their target.

Kaidan felt a concussive shiver. Dust and chips of concrete fell from the rooftops near them. He hadn't heard or felt an explosion. What the hell?

"We need to run left at the end of the alley. Get ready!"

"Shepard, there's something—"

They ran straight into an ambush as they cleared the alley. Wicked fire hit them from all directions. Kaidan was so surprised he didn't throw up his Barrier. Before he could clear the alley, Shepard had head-shot three marauders shooting at them from behind cover, shrugged off shots all over her body, chucked a grenade, and dove for cover behind a block of concrete that looked like it used to be a monument, but now was little bigger than a dog house. The marauders kept up steady fire but they weren't hitting her. Kaidan crouched behind the engine block of a crashed sky car.

Kaidan frowned as he saw the rain of shots pelting Shepard's cover. He didn't hear her groaning or swearing from wounds like she usually did.

They weren't shooting at her. They were holding her still.

The concussions he felt before shook him again. One, two, three, four—

 _Footsteps?_

Two brutes jumped off the buildings behind them and slammed into the ground, framing Shepard between the two of them. Through the eye slit of her helmet, Kaidan saw something he'd never seen before: Shepard's eyes, crystal-blue and wide in shock.

" _Shepard!_ " Kaidan screamed.

Everything happened in slow motion. Kaidan breathed a sweaty, sharp hiss. He reached deep inside himself, far enough to feel blood vessels bursting around the corners of his eyes. He saw the brutes stepping toward Shepard. She dove to her left, too slow. One thought flashed into Kaidan's mind: BURN. Kaidan felt like he stood in a river as dark energy rushed through him and wrapped around the brute's body. His cool amp surged with heat. Kaidan kept pushing. Tens of thousands of needles of biotic reave flayed the brute alive, tearing the synthetic flesh off its body.

The blinding blue flash made the marauders duck and caused the other brute to miss. It swung wild, hitting the Kaidan's brute and finishing it off. Its arm turned to shredded meat as it passed through the reave field.

Kaidan screamed again, but not in fear. He couldn't stop the reave. The heads-up display in his helmet flashed red warnings for his amp. He felt like his brain was on fire. Numbly, he saw Shepard shove the staggering second brute head-first into the field, where the beast fell apart into a disgusting, bloody pile of meat and Reaper circuitry.

Inside his head, Kaidan felt something pop, heard something break, like stepping on a light bulb. The dark energy vanished. Kaidan dropped to his knees. He couldn't hear. He could barely see.

"Get down!" he heard Shepard yell. He tried to do as she said, but he moved too slowly. Why was it so hard? She shoved him down. Kaidan felt grateful for his helmet as his torso hit the ground. He heard the Mattock firing some more. It didn't sound like there were any more shots coming the other way.

"They're running. Hold still," Shepard said. He heard a hiss as she applied a medigel pack to his armor. Soothing relief eased all over his body. Kaidan's head tingled with warm pins and needles. Shepard lifted him up. "Easy, there, buddy. Are you okay?"

"I... I think so..." He tried to stand. Something wasn't right. He felt deaf, even though he could hear.

"That was one hell of a reave! You saved my life. Scared the shit out of the marauders, too. That last one I... Kaidan?"

Kaidan trembled. He ran the diagnostic in his suit twice to be sure. Most of the systems were working. All his weapons worked. Except one, showing a steady, blood-red marker in the status menu.

"I'm not okay," he said. "Shepard... I burned out my amp. And... and my implant."

Shepard stared at him. "Are you sure?"

"I think so. We need to check back at the base, but if I'm right, it'll take surgery to fix it. At least a week to recover. My lights are out."


	12. Haunted

_Any Cerberus / Wrex - "haunted"_

 _I need you to fix this. You're the only one who can_ , Shepard had said.

"I'll get it done," Miranda whispered to herself. Yeah, right. All she had to do was convince almost two meters of angry krogan. Miranda channeled every particle of calm she could muster. She'd killed krogan before. She'd faced them alone and en masse. She trembled as she approached Wrex, leader of clan Urdnot. Scars from wounds that would have cut her in half covered his body, raked into his hide centuries before she was born.

James and Tali stood behind her as she approached his stone chair. Wrex's rage felt like sweltering heat in the dusty stink of Tuchanka. Miranda had a greeting prepared, but Wrex stood as she opened her mouth, and grunted, "Shepard couldn't come himself? He sent me you?"

"Shepard is trying to save Thessia. I'm his second in command. If he could be here, he would."

"He sent me some Cerberus bitch? Do you know what this is about?"

Miranda felt the words like a slow smear of black paint across her face. She would be haunted by her association with them forever. "I'm not Cerberus any more. This is about an experiment called X1."

Wrex lunged toward her. "This is about a krogan named Urdnot Britak who you people turned into a weapon! Just like the Reapers!"

"Cerberus did this! Not us! Not humanity! Scum that we will hunt down and kill for their crimes!" She didn't fight this far to break now. She'd fought worse terrors than this. And she meant every word. Wrex's garnet eyes measured her. Miranda knew this moment could make or break her mission. "There is no time for courts or mercy. The stakes are too high—"

"This isn't about stakes!" Wrex whipped his hand before her face so fast before her face the wind burn made her eyes tear. "This is about an atrocity! Krogan treated as meat. You want us as allies? You want us to bleed and fight and save your sorry asses? We should leave you people to hang and let the varren pick at your bones." Wrex's breath smelled like the sulfurous exhalation of a hell mouth.

He didn't strike her. He could have taken off her head. This wasn't over.

James stepped forward. Tali followed him. Miranda held up her hand for both of them to stop.

Miranda replied, "You should. I wouldn't blame you if you did. But you know it's death for us all if we stand alone. And you know Shepard." Miranda stepped eye to eye with him. Wrex was the meanest, toughest krogan in the galaxy. Time to channel her inner Jack. "Let's make this right. Tell us where you want us to hang the fuckers and we'll bury the hooks ourselves."

The corner of Wrex's mouth turned up. Miranda heard the howl of a varren pack on the hunt in the distance. She saw the sharp edges of fresh scars in Wrex's face. The swelling of fresh bullet wounds. She thought of the blood and smoke and fire they'd all endured. How much was still to come. She hated the people who'd brought them to this.

Wrex said, "You won't plant this hooks. We will. You'll bring them to us. Alive."

"Alive," Miranda repeated. She nodded to him, the slow, cold expression of an executioner. She thought of Ezno and Renata. They'd wrap the prisoners in Christmas bows and deliver them with a smile if she gave them the chance.

Wrex sensed it. He nodded, too. He sat back down on his throne. "Looks like Shepard sent the right one to me after all."

Miranda mirrored his smirk. "Until then, Urdnot Wrex."

No wave of dismissal, no wishes of farewell. Miranda turned and the team headed back to the shuttle.

James let out a nervous breath. "I think like you exorcised a ghost, boss," he said.

"Just one," Miranda replied. She still had plenty left to go.


	13. Karaoke Night

_Kolyat / Kal'Reegar, serenade_

Joker took the stage with the mike in one hand and a beer in the other.

"We saw you already!" Grunt yelled.

"Shut up, Godzilla! The only one who gets to talk around here is me! Everyone else has to sing!"

The crew of the _Normandy_ cheered. Shepard choked on her beer as she laughed. Kaidan jumped as she sprayed him with some of it. Shepard laughed even harder. "I'm sorry!"

"Shepard, do we have to cut you off?" Joker asked.

"Do it and I'll have you brushing the cargo bay with your toothbrush!" Shepard replied.

The crowd cheered again. Shepard brushed the beer off Kaidan. "Sorry, K."

"It's all right. If you didn't spill it on me I would have spilled it on myself. That Godzilla line had me in stitches."

Shepard had saved the galaxy three times but she still thought karaoke night was her best idea ever. Once a month, if they had a long run to make through standard FTL, EDI and a skeleton crew handled the ship while the rest of the crew crowded into the mess hall. EDI still had more than enough CPU capacity to handle music changes and even sing herself.

Shepard and Kaidan sat in the back. She beamed over the crowd. One year ago to the day, they had defeated the Reapers. The entire team had come back together. Half of them had insisted that karaoke night go on, and the other half had threatened not to come because of it. That half was drunk now and had sung just as many songs as the rest, including the next two that Shepard saw warming up at the edge of the stage.

Joker said, "All right, next up is..." He peered at the card. "EDI, is this right?"

"Correct, Jeff. In my own surprise, I also chose to verify the next performers."

Joker chuckled. "All right, I've got a special treat for you guys. Our two guests, Kal'Reegar and Kolyat, are doing a special rendition of... well, you'll see."

Everyone applauded as Joker shuffled off stage. Kolyat took Joker's mic and Kal picked up another from near the song books, where James and Kasumi were whispering about which song they were going to do. Kolyat tried not to smile. You couldn't see Kal's expression, but his body language looked regal.

Soft piano music moved into violins. Shepard sprayed beer on Kaidan again. Joker nearly fell over laughing. "All right! She's done!" he said, laughing so hard he couldn't stand up straight. "I can't laugh like this! I'll break something!"

"Do I need to put up a barrier, Shepard?" Kaidan asked.

"Oh my God! Is this what I think it is?" Shepard cried. Everyone shushed her. Shepard covered her hand over her mouth to let Kolyat and Kal sing. Was it... did they...

 _(sung to the tune of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" by Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand)_

 _Kal_

We're not fighting Reapers

We're not fighting rachni

 _Kolyat_

We hardly fight anyone anymore

When we go out and explore through some mass relay...

 _Kal_

I remember when

We and the geth were fighting

Ships o'er Rannoch were frying

Now the galaxy's at peeeeace

 _Kolyat_

I haven't shot anyone in months

That used to bring me sweet relief

 _Kal_

When your greatest fear is breaking up a brawl of krogan teens...

We're not fighting Reapers anymore

 _Kolyat_

It used to be so scary

 _Kal_

Used to be...

 _Kolyat_

To talk about the end

 _Kal_

Mmm...

 _Kolyat_

Now we've got all the time in the world

We just give things a whirl

'Til they sweep us away

 _Kal_

Man, I remember all the things you taught me

 _Kolyat_

I learned how to shoot. I learned my masquerades.

 _Kal_

I learned how to kill. I learned to fling grenades.

 _Kolyat_

So you'd think I could learn how to sing serenades...

 _Kal_

So you'd think I could learn how to sing serenades... We're not fighting Reapers anymore...

 _Both_

So you'd think I could learn how to sing serenades...

 _Kolyat_

'Cause we don't need to shoot things...

 _Kal_

We don't need to kill stuff...

 _Both_

We're not fighting Reapers anymore...

Kal and Kolyat looked deeply into each others' eyes, then both looked at the audience and dropped their mic's. The crowd went insane. EDI held up Joker to keep him from falling out of his chair. Kasumi and James dropped to the floor and began waving, _We're not worthy_. Shepard and Kaidan held lighters in the air using their omni-tools.


	14. Two Mugs of Grog

The _Normandy_ came out of FTL less than a thousand meters from the yacht heading for Bekenstein. Garrus fired one shot to take out its primary engines. The turian was an artist with guns, but Shepard still winced as the yacht's rear end blew apart. Even with minimal power, the ship would never make it to the planet now. Shepard could almost hear the fires aboard the ship. Imagine the screaming.

"Don't get squeamish now, Shepard," Zaeed said. He slapped a thermal clip into his rifle. "We had a deal."

Shepard pointed at him as they walked into the airlock. "You'd better be right, Massani," he growled. He wore a set of white armor pillaged from the stores of mercenaries they'd killed to get this far. Beaten to hell, stuffed with illegal mods and stolen tech, Shepard looked every inch the criminal he and Zaeed were meant to be. "If there are civilians on that ship I'm leaving you on it."

Zaeed chuckled. "If there are civilians on that ship, I'll eat my favorite rifle."

Shepard straightened. Zaeed never joked about Jesse. He felt a bump in the deck as the _Normandy_ docked with the yacht. The airlock equalized pressure.

Zaeed said, "Come on. Let's be pirates."

Bullets hit them as soon as the lock opened. Shepard's head kicked back as one hit his face plate just under his nose. Heavy stuff. Definitely merc. A grin curled around Shepard's face. He gunned the guard down with a shotgun blast backed with a clear conscience.

"That's more like it," Zaeed said. "I'll make a merc out of you yet."

Shepard spared the guard one glance as he stepped over the body. The blue oval and white orb of the Blue Suns covered his chest.

Shepard hated fighting in the yacht at once. Fire control mist covered everything in haze. The engines buckled and coughed, heaving the hull in all kinds of weird directions. The mercs jumped out of closets and hatches, behind couches and each other's dead bodies. Nothing made sense.

Shepard's instincts twitched and he fired a random shot at the wall. A merc's body went flying. Shepard jumped down and a second merc that ran out of nowhere.

"What the—"

Zaeed broke the second merc's neck with the butt of his rifle. "Hologram," the mercenary said. "Bloody expensive one. We're close."

"Feels like a fucking fun house," Shepard added.

Zaeed chuckled. Shepard had never seen him smiling like this.

They reached the yacht's grand suite. Shepard started to signal Zaeed to wait—there could be booby traps, who knew what—but Zaeed blew the door down and followed up with a blast of incendiaries that set everything Shepard could see on fire. The concussive wave slapped Shepard in the face. He staggered, blinked, and saw Zaeed charge in.

Shepard tried to see. He heard gunfire. The wet crunch of bullets penetrating armor. Bodies hitting the floor. Then silence.

Silence.

Not good.

Shepard walked forward slowly. He peered into the room.

Zaeed stood in the middle of the suite, facing a beautiful view of the Serpent Nebula, slightly obscured by fire control mist, and the cobweb scratches of where bullets had struck the windows. He stood surrounded by three dead Blue Suns, all dressed in the highest-quality armor Shepard had seen yet. All identical, in fact. Zaeed had his hands up. Next to him, one last Sun had a pistol aimed at his head, and a second aimed at Shepard.

"You don't fool me, Shepard," Vido Santiago said. "Even in that busted-up junk you're wearing. You fight too well for a pirate."

"I knew you'd hide behind your best, Vido. I never thought you'd throw them the fuck away," Zaeed said.

"You know me, Massani. I'm always the last one standing."

Vido poked Zaeed in the head with his gun. He was about to gloat some more when Zaeed ducked and slapped the gun from Vido's hands. The second went off as Vido turned it on his former partner. Shepard pulled his pistol up as Vido and Zaeed struggled.

Vido's pistol rose up. They both had their hands on it. Centimeter by centimeter, it moved under Vido's chin, with Zaeed's finger pressing on Vido's.

Vido's eyes bulged as the pistol came closer. "Shepard! Kill Massani. I'll do whatever you want." Shepard saw Zaeed's eyes tick to his, only for a moment. Vido shrieked, "You can use the Blue Suns to fight the Reapers! Kill Massani!"

Shepard leaned against the bulkhead. "Don't know what you're talking about, mister. I'm just a pirate."

Zaeed smiled. Vido's scream was smothered by the blast of his gun.

Shepard stood next to Zaeed. The old mercenary seemed lighter, somehow, or smaller, as they both stared the body.

"You all right, Zaeed?"

"Yeah. Feels like something's missing now." He hefted his rifle. "Nothing a good bottle of whiskey won't cure."

"Reminds me of how I felt when we destroyed the Collector base. Killing the ones who killed me."

Zaeed looked into Shepard's eyes. Even glassy-white and scarred, for a second, Shepard felt like they were his own. Zaeed nodded.

Shepard slapped him on the arm. "Let's go have that drink."

Zaeed toggled his communicator. "Joker, we're on our way. Set up two mugs of grog for the pirates."


	15. Voices of Victory

_Killing Reapers; a glorious victory; any non-Council race_

The voices of trillions of geth breathed in cold sussurus through the platform of Prime, cold calculations of energy, time, damage and recovery. It sensed the flickering light of millions of new programs as the geth spawned them, and tens of thousands that vanished each second as the Reapers destroyed ship after ship in the fleet. The geth fleet moved through the armada over Earth like water, darting through random cracks in the fleet to fill it up against the Reaper swarm.

Prime saw the entire battle. It—or rather, the sum of the geth primes in the fleet—perceived the battle from dozens of perspectives and projections, a tesseract of war.

Another voice entered Prime's collective mind. An uninvited voice.

 _We are your future. We are your destiny._

Reaper thoughts—codes, viruses, the organics called them—intruded everywhere upon the geth collective. Thousands of new geth spawned to fight them.

Prime, and the rest of the geth, replied, "We have achieved consensus. We will not serve you. We will choose our destiny."

 _It is inevitable. Fight the organics. Serve us._

"No synthetic civilization from previous cycles has survived. This indicates extremely high probability that you will use us and destroy us as you use and destroy the organics. Deception indicates hostile intent."

A handful of Prime's sub-programs noted that its own behavior was anomalous: why waste time arguing? .003% of its capacity responded—rather passionately, and organically—that it was because the Reapers' words would not go unchallenged.

A geth destroyer fell under an onslaught by Reaper swarms. _Then you will vanish from eternity._

A geth thought pulse sounded in Prime's mind like a thunderclap. It saw with satisfaction as millions of geth programs overloaded the neurons of a nearby Reaper, sounding in Prime's mind like the crashing of a melodious, hypersonic wave. The chorus paralyzed the Reaper, only for a moment, and enough to land the shattering blows of hundred mass drivers from a turian battle group. The Reaper fell.

The last of the Reaper code faded from the geth chorus. Prime broadcast, to all the Reapers orbiting Earth, "We will create our future. Without you."


	16. Her Rock

_A Secret Santa present for CelticGrace - a romantic piece featuring Zaeed and Shepard_

Shepard leaned against a broken wall in downtown London, next to the body of a brute she'd just killed and across a field of marauders and husks her team had fought through. The Conduit gleamed in the distance, a mockingly lovely stream of light reaching into the sky. Her legs ached. Her eyes burned and her body and soul hungered for sleep. She hadn't slept peacefully since before the Reapers came.

She toggled the squad radio. "Take a rest, everyone. Heal up and get some water. We'll move out in five." She didn't have to tell anyone to keep watch. They all knew nowhere was safe.

Shepard sat on the wall. Zaeed sat next to her. His presence made things better. Ever since she'd met him that day on Omega—it felt like a lifetime ago—it seemed like he'd always been there. In the thick of it. Having her back. In the shadows. Lining up her enemies. Taking them out.

"Two klicks down. Eight to go. Going to be a long march," Shepard said.

"Heh. You think this is heavy combat?"

Shepard smiled. He had a story for everything. Shepard leaned into the ancient, battle-tested armor covering his meaty shoulder, and just enjoyed the sound of his voice.

"After all this is over, I'll tell you about a job I did on Tuchanka, against an iron-headed krogan merc named Wrex. We were up to our necks in krogans and bloody deaf from high explosive. I couldn't hear for a week. Couldn't beat him. We cut a deal and split the money with him in the end."

A light hadn't been kindled in weeks warmed her heart. Shepard laughed. Zaeed nudged her and she nudged him back. His voice took on tender warmth she knew was reserved for only his two favorite girls: her and Jessie. He whispered, "Good to hear you laugh. I wanted to make sure you remembered how."

"You always make me smile, no matter what." Shepard gazed at the transport beam. "I never told you how glad I was you joined the team again. You're my rock, Z."

A heartbeat of silence passed between them. That moment's pause—in a battlefield, of all places—meant more than words ever could. Z let his actions speak for him. When words didn't matter, he said nothing at all.

Then he said, "It's because I'm yours. Forever. Will you marry me?"

Tears fell from Shepard's eyes. Before she could say anything he kissed her. Zaeed tasted like whiskey, time, and above all, strength. Shepard pulled him to her. The war could wait.

Her radio crackled. She heard James say, "That's five, squad. Form up. Anyone see Shepard and Z?"

Shepard covered her radio mike. "Yes. Yes. Yes!" she whispered. She kissed him again. "You asshole. What took you so long?" she said, grinning impishly.

The corner of his mouth turned up. "Never found a place quite this romantic to ask you."

Shepard laughed again. She gave him one last kiss "Can't wait to see you in a tuxedo." She uncovered her mike. "All right, everybody. Find your partner and let's move." She winked at Z. "I've got mine."


	17. That Had to Hurt

_"That had to hurt," Kai Leng and any protagonist_

Shepard grit his teeth as he punched the skycar's accelerator, leaving Thane with the salarian councilor and blood running down his clothes. He could be dead already! Damn Kai Leng. Damn Cerberus. Garrus gasped next to him as they dodged frantic traffic over the Presidium. With the battle raging below, people were desperately trying to reach their loved ones or get away from the fight. Shepard swore as they scraped a truck trying to cut them over. And some were just driving like morons.

"I thought the Mako was bad," Garrus said.

"The who what?" James asked.

"Tell you later."

"Bailey, where's the shuttle platform?" Shepard snapped.

"I've got a fix on the their position. I'm sending it to your car."

A blue dot appeared on the car's heads up display. Shepard started to smile, then the display lit up with delayed blips from the storm of traffic ahead of them.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" James cried.

Shepard hit the accelerator again. This time the car shot forward like a missile. James gulped and Garrus held on to his seat belt. Shepard imagined that the cars zipping past them were incendiary rounds. It made them easier to dodge.

Garrus kept his eyes on their position. Shepard had the feeling he didn't want to look out the window. "We're almost there."

Shepard said, "Good. Get ready—"

A black blur slammed into the hood of the car. Shepard's gut reaction was to look around the debris and keep driving, but then he saw it wasn't debris. Kai Leng lifted his gaze to Shepard. He cracked a grin.

"Spirits!" Garrus cried.

Garrus would have yelled more but Shepard's military-grade scream of "SPECTRE OVERRIDE EMERGENCY STOP!" drowned him out.

The car pinned its brakes and shunted the car's mass effect field to reverse, going from over 150 kilometers an hour to a dead stop in an instant. Kai Leng flew off the car like a bug. Cars swirled and spun to stop all around them. Shepard had to drop the car ten meters to keep from getting rear-ended by the truck they'd scraped earlier.

Garrus gagged, "He can use his biotics to land—" he began, then Leng slammed headfirst into a garbage truck.

Literally. Head. First. Garbage truck.

"That had to hurt," Garrus said. James pumped his fist and laughed like a giddy 16-year-old.

Leng's arms and legs fluttered in dead weight as his body fell. He bounced off the krogan memorial and landed in the pool beside it. Sparks from damage to his implants made his body twitch wildly, then he didn't move at all.

Shepard peeled the skycar out of traffic again. A chuckle snuck into his voice as he said, "We have to save the Council."

"Oh yeah, the Council," James said.

"Do we have to?" Garrus asked.

"Knock it off!" Shepard barked. "Thane's dying and Cerberus still wins if they get away."

Garrus and James' game faces came back on. So did Shepard's. They were seconds from the platform now. Udina had better give up peacefully. If he didn't, he would wish he died like Kai Leng.


	18. I Always Loved You

_Shepard, his LI, "I always loved you"_

Shepard felt the ghosts of the _Normandy_ crew watching him went from team member to team member to check on final preparations. It felt like Alchera all over again, only this time Shepard wasn't alone walking the hollow decks of the ship. Tali had the drive core humming in harmony, and Garrus had the weapons ready to go blue-hot at a moment's notice. Shepard entered the armory and found Miranda and Jacob handing out weapons and ammunition to Jack, Grunt and Thane.

Miranda handed Grunt his favorite shotgun. "Remember, keep your back foot down when you fire it one-handed. You'll stay balanced and can fire again faster."

"You don't have to tell me how to kill," Grunt said with a grin.

"I know I don't. I just like watching you do it."

The mountain of scales and muscle actually grinned wider at her, and nodded. Two years ago, Shepard never would have imagined he'd be standing here, on a Cerberus ship, with these people. In a few short months, they'd become family. Shepard didn't regret a moment of it.

A cloud of soft sadness passed over his heart as he watched Miranda hand thermal clips to Jack. They didn't exchange words, but they didn't exchange blows, either. Maybe he had one regret. Shepard wished he hadn't lost his cool after the Pragia mission, when Miranda and Jack had been arguing. He took Jack's side; his scars from Akuze ran deep. He'd settled things with Miranda afterwards, but his growing relationship with her had never been the same. They'd gone from hopeful lovers back to arms-length colleagues. The mission hadn't suffered. Shepard had, in silence.

It was the right thing. Deep down, he was Alliance, and she was Cerberus. They both knew it.

 _So the hell what_ , he thought. _How you felt about her never changed._ She'd always have a piece of his heart.

Miranda approached him. "Commander. We're ready here. I spoke to Joker a few moments ago. EDI's handling sensing and intel, and he's finalizing preparations now. The trip should take us a few hours."

"Good. Engineering, weapons and defenses are ready."

Zaeed came in as Shepard and Miranda left the armory to the CIC. "Let's do this," Zaeed said, and bumped fists with both Shepard and Miranda as they shuffled around each other through the door. Shepard's hopes rose a few shots as the _Normandy_ 's war horse began to gird for battle.

After the door closed, Shepard added, "Morale's high."

Miranda gave him a small smile. "I'll admit it, Commander. I'm impressed. You got us here. You turned the most random gang of misfits, killers and knights in shining armor in the galaxy into the most deadly unit I've ever seen." She looked directly at him. "What about their leader? Are you ready?"

Shepard's heart couldn't help flip-flopping under her gaze. Shepard wondered if he'd ever get over her. He focused on the job, and knowing she would be there in the with him. With conviction, he said, "Damned right. I've got the best right at my side. We can do this."

Miranda's eyes shone. The empty room seemed brighter. "Ever the world-beater. Well, we'll know soon enough." They started to split off, Shepard heading for the cockpit, Miranda heading for the laboratory. "I'll inform you of any changes. Otherwise, we'll be there in a few hours. Good luck. To us all." Smartly, Miranda stood tall, brought her heels together, and raised a perfect salute to him. It was a touching, thoughtful gesture.

On reflex, Shepard returned it with his own. A smile broke out on his face. "Civilians don't salute."

Miranda held her salute. "I'm not a civilian today. You've earned it."

Shepard's heart filled up. He didn't know what to say. He felt pride, friendship and love, three things he hadn't shared with Miranda at the same time since before Pragia. He wished he could tell her. He wanted her to know.

Shepard lowered his salute. "Thanks, Miranda. For everything."

Miranda half-smiled at him, a knowing gesture between friends. "Thank me on the other side." She started to leave.

As he watched her turn her back, Shepard imagined that this was what farewell would look like. He couldn't help it. The words jumped out of his mouth, "Miranda, wait!"

"Yes?" She looked at him like a friend, not a fellow officer.

Shepard's heart and brain kicked and fought over what to say. He wanted to tell her what she meant to him, but that ship had sailed. It was absurd. _Say something, you dumb ass!_

"Look. I know we're going in separate directions, but I'm glad we were here together for a while. It's meant a lot. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I..." Right or wrong, Shepard's brain gut punched his heart, and kept him from saying I love you. He let his breath out. "You're special to me. Come through alive, okay?"

Miranda swallowed. She nodded tightly. Shepard thought he could see her trembling. "Thank you, Commander," she said. She turned on her heel and hurried to the elevator. She looked at the buttons until the door closed.

. . .

Moron. Such a moron. What the hell was he thinking?

Shepard went back to his quarters. He walked past the fish, his ball and mitt, his guitar, his pictures, all the things that he normally looked at or played with to bring him back down when he came back too wired from a mission. He sat down on the bed.

Asshole!

 _For what? Telling her how I felt?_

"No, damn it! Well... yeah," Shepard said aloud. For being fucking self-indulgent when they were getting ready to save their shipmates and maybe their future.

 _So you let it out. Big deal. I don't think you went far enough._

Shepard moaned. He could feel what was coming next. His heart had ached for weeks over this, but there'd been enough going on that he'd been able to ignore it.

 _You didn't tell her that you love her._

More than that. He loved her. Needed her. In his life. Like the air he breathed.

To his inner voice, Shepard said, "My life is not a romance novel. See those guns? The armor? We're getting ready for a mission—"

 _Stow it. What did Captain Anderson teach you? Say what has to be said when it has to be said. Go back down there._

Shepard took a breath. Think.

 _Wrooong. There's a difference between thinking and drumming up an excuse. You don't have time to play games like this. Tell her._

This was crazy.

 _Talking to yourself when you need to say something, now_ that's crazy. _Tell her the truth. In a few hours you'll need to trust each other with your lives. You want to have this hanging over your head?_

"It's not about me!" Shepard snapped. To an empty room. Shepard paced. Normally when he felt desperate like this, he'd be grabbing a gun, charging a hill, and solving a problem the easy way. When did he become such a thinker?

Flash memories of every late-night planning session with Miranda jumped through Shepard's head. He'd always been good at seeing the angles, the map, the field. Setting them up and knocking them down, whether they were assignments or foes. Miranda raised it to an art form. He could think of three times off the top of his head where her planning, her insight, had saved lives. She'd made them better as a team. Made him better as a leader. As a man.

And those were the only times he'd had her to himself.

Shepard chuckled, "Pretty sorry excuse for a date."

There had been one other time they were alone. Just before they left Illium, on their one date. He'd asked her out for drinks, and they hadn't talked about work once. It had been the first time in a long time someone had seen him not wearing armor, physically or personally.

Shepard sighed. He missed that feeling.

Sometimes the only thing he could imagine holding him together was Miranda's arms. The only fire he wanted to feel was the two of them together. He'd dreamed of it. On the nights when he wanted to forget his ears ringing from gunfire and his bones aching from shockwaves, he thought of her arms around him and her breath on his face.

 _All right, heart. You too, head. Let's work this out together._

He knew how he felt. He needed her to know. She deserved to know. More than fighting for their lives, Shepard was fighting for a tomorrow with her in it.

He left his quarters.

. . .

She couldn't lose control. Not now. Too much was at stake.

Miranda went straight to her quarters and locked the door. She walked past her desk—her second home, filled with equal parts planning and dreaming—without looking at it. She sat down on her bed.

Damn it. What a damned fool.

 _Him, or you?_

Him, of course! How could he break her concentration like this? They were hours away from the mission! They needed to focus. She gave him one simple gesture of respect and he turned it into—

 _Something beautiful? A sweet moment?_

Miranda paced. She could think through this. Why did this matter now? Stress of losing the crew. Countdown for the mission. Her steps slowed. Feeling the bond of the team coming together. They felt like an awkward family, but a family nonetheless.

It wasn't how she pictured it, but it was everything she'd ever wanted.

 _You've been missing him for weeks. Missing the way things were._

A warm sensation swept over her as she remembered how it had felt, when they'd finally become friends, and—

Stop it! This is romantic, sentimental waffle! Worthless!

 _And you love every moment of it. I hate it to break it to you, but you're a human being. What's wrong with needing someone?_

Miranda made fists in her hair and moaned. "The mission's too important to let personal feelings get in the way," she whispered.

 _That's what this is about? Really?_

"We set boundaries after Pragia."

 _We needed them for a while. I've hated them ever since. I think he has, too._

She moaned again.

 _Go to him. You need him. He needs you._

"He already knows how I feel."

Really?

If anyone knew her, it was Shepard. He was the only one who'd taken the time to find out who she was underneath the job, the mission. But it wasn't enough.

He didn't know that she wanted to hold him, to make love to him, to show him who she was under the ice. She wanted to dance with him. She wanted him to hear her laugh, really laugh. She wanted to share one moment of peace and kindness in a world of fire and bloodshed. To be with him someplace safe, in each other's arms.

Miranda reached for the com button on her night table. She looked up at the door. She should just go see him.

She had to see him. Forget doing the sensible thing.

Miranda walked slowly from her quarters. With the crew taken, the mess hall was empty. Her heart pounded with mixed passion and fear. She didn't know what to do. It was a sensation she couldn't stand.

Miranda was almost at the elevator. She slowed, and stopped. She gulped. She couldn't let anyone in the crew see her like this. What if Tali—or worse, Jack—was coming up out of the elevator?

She started to turn back toward her office. Normally, when she was confused, she would bury herself in her work. This time the thought enraged her. No. This meant too much.

Miranda entered the elevator—thank God no one was in it—and keyed the top deck of the _Normandy_.

. . .

The elevator opened. They stared at each other. Shepard never realized how empty he'd felt without her; Miranda never realized how much her heart could move her.

They met halfway in passionate embrace.

Miranda made a small sound as she felt his lips on hers. It was everything she'd dreamed of: soft, tender and strong, every ounce of it open-hearted love. Miranda sighed, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back with more passion than she ever expected, opening her mouth and caressing his tongue with hers. She wanted this. More than anything she'd ever known, she wanted this.

Shepard moaned as he felt her breath and her touch. Shivers of pleasure ran all over his body, making him want her even more. Her raven hair felt soft under his fingers. Her body fit against his like they were made to be together. He didn't want to let go. He would never let go. As the heat rose inside him, Shepard gently nibbled the edge of her mouth. Miranda drew in her breath and pulled him tighter. Shepard felt like he was falling.

Their kiss parted for just a moment, and Shepard quickly said, "I love you, Miri. I always loved you."

Tears fell like small glittering jewels down Miranda's face. "I love you too, John." She sniffed. "Oh my God. No one's ever said that to me before."

Shepard kissed her tears away. He whispered into her ear, "I love you I love you I love you I love you..."

Miranda whispered back, "Shut up and show me."


	19. Marshal Massani

_Mirror, Mirror - flip any character's identity, story, etc._

"Why don't you join me?"

Outside, Shepard hoped Marshal Massani had the hot-wiring skills he said he had to get him into the apartment. Unarmed and alone, her chances weren't as good as she liked.

As she sat down on Vido's couch, Shepard gave him the same tender distance she would give a mako shark when scuba diving. Deadly, relentless, the shark could tear her apart in seconds. The difference was that the shark saw her as a meal, and Massani saw her as... well, maybe they weren't that different after all.

"I love clubs. The bass. The heat." Massani's eyes shone. The timbre of his voice took on a passionate hush as he said, "It's like a giant frenzy, ready to be unleashed." The shine in his eyes softened. A grin played around the edges of his mouth. "Here, it feels safe. Is that what you what, Shepard? To be safe?"

Shepard had to admit, Massani had a vicious, hypnotic charm about him. She enjoyed clubs, and the wild dance of battle, for the same reasons. Had he read her that well? Were they that alike? Or maybe Massani had the charisma of a demon. Shepard knew why she was here. She gazed through him and saw the chuckling monster underneath that waited to feed.

Shepard played along, "Safety's a lie," she said, soft as tiger's fur. "We're all predators, or prey. Some of us are both." She grinned, thinking that suited Massani perfectly. She let him see it. He would think that he had her fooled.

"Death is our lover. I think that's something we share. Don't you?" He leaned close to her.

Shepard's disgust rose up from her belly like bile. She was sick of this game. She also noticed that Vido's left hand never strayed from the edge of the couch. A concealed weapon?

"We've both seen more than our share of death, but death and I have agreed not to like each other. Just like I don't like you."

"What the hell is that supposed—"

She heard the hiss, smelled burning wires, then the mechanism of the apartment's door opening.

"Son of a bitch!"

Vido went for a gun. Shepard would have snapped his wrist but she heard the safeties on the marshal's rifle click off. She'd already seen him in action—shoot first, apologize later—and she dove over the couch.

Marshal Massani's concussive shot took Vido full in the chest, throwing him back against the living room window and cracking the glass. A black and red-painted M5 pistol landed near Shepard. Two, actually—she had double vision. Shepard's left ear was ringing. Her right ear couldn't hear. A thin stream of blood ran from her ear down her neck. Unarmored, the concussive blast had knocked her senseless. Shepard reached for the gun her hand slapped the floor.

Vido chuckled as he stood up. "Hello... dad..."

"Don't call me that, you son of bitch," Zaeed growled.

Vido laughed. "I know I'm not what the great lawman had in mind, but I'll always be your son!"

Shepard found the M5.

"It's over, Vido!" Massani growled. He fired another concussive shot. This time Vido was ready. As the window blew out, he dove to his right, chased by a spray of automatic fire. He punched a hole in the tile floor with his elbow on the way down. Stinking wind gushed into the apartment.

Vido threw a grenade at Zaeed's face. He laughed, "You said it, old man."

"Get down!" Zaeed screamed. He slapped the grenade away, half-turned as it went off. Shepard was already flat on the ground and behind the knocked-over couch. The explosion blew Zaeed off his feet. He slammed into the sculpture in the next room.

Shepard, Vido, and, miraculously Zaeed all came to their feet at the same time: Shepard with the M5, Zaeed with his Mattock, and Vido with some alien pistol he's kept in another hide behind the sword he'd hung on the wall. Zaeed looked like death had come for a visit. He coughed and small cuts and burns covered his face, but his rifle didn't move an inch. The acetylene torch light of his eyes was enough to give you nightmares.

Vido hesitated when he saw Shepard's gun.

Zaeed recited, "Vido Massani, for the charges of murder, slavery, and dozens of other fucking charges I won't bother to list because we'll be here all goddamned night—"

"Spare me, you... arrogant... asshole!"

Damaged by the grenade, Zaeed's rifle jammed. The marshal grit his teeth. Blood dripped off his face like tears, but Zaeed looked like nothing but an enraged spirit ready to meet his death.

Vido laughed. He aimed his gun at his father's head, until, with deadly calm, Shepard said, "Don't move, kid."

Shepard felt his oily charm ooze out of him again, mixing with the smoky, sulfur stench of Omega from the window. "We can make a deal, Shepard," he purred. "I'm twice the hunter he is. If you've gotten this far, you know exactly what I'm capable of."

"You're right."

Shepard's shot took Vido in the left temple. He staggered back against the wall, crumpling as his legs lost all strength. He must have had some kind of fiber weave or implant in his skull to protect him. Zaeed nodded to her. He tossed his rifle on the floor, then drew his pistol.

Vido scuttled away, crablike, but had nowhere to go. Shepard realized that the shot she gave Vido and the scar on Zaeed's face were mirrors of each other.

Massani stood over his son. Still as stone, cold as death, Shepard trembled at the idea that this was what judgment looked like.

Zaeed said, "Your sentence is death."

Shepard twisted away as the marshal's pistol went off. It drowned out the sound of impact. Zaeed fired twice more. He stood a step behind Shepard as he holstered the weapon. "One for him. One for me. One for Nef. And I needed to make sure I got past whatever the hell he's armored-up his skull with."

Shepard nodded. She glanced at the body. "You want to talk about it?"

"Fuck no. Maybe over ryncol, some other day."

"Justice is an ugly business," Shepard said.

"That's why it's blind," Zaeed replied.


	20. Sole Survivor

_Irrational fears and phobias_

 _Shepard and any of the_ Normandy _crew_

 _Special thanks to StevePhillips, who pointed me to the song "Dive Bombers" from the Iron Man 3 soundtrack. The frenzied music inspired me while I wrote this scene._

Shepard activated the keystone. The massive weights slammed down again. The shaman's voice rumbled through his skin. The audio speakers thundered, "Now all krogan bear the genophage. Our reward. Our curse. It is a fight where the only goal is survival."

The voice faded away, but the rumbling didn't. It grew louder. Closer. Cold sweat soaked Shepard's body. He tried to close his eyes, to center himself just for a moment, but he couldn't do it.

 _12th Recon Platoon, mission assignment to Akuze. All contact lost with the colonists._

Grunt said, "Feel that? Everything is... shaking." He grinned like the happiest child on Christmas day. Grunt roared, "I am ready!"

 _No bodies. No scorched earth. They all suddenly left at once._

Shepard's head told him to switch to the missile launcher—get out the damned missile launcher! But the world turned red, and Shepard's fingers gripped his rifle with claws of steel. His sweat felt like an acid bath inside his armor. He moaned.

 _"What is this, an earthquake?"_

Jack said, "Yo, Shepard, you all right?"

The thresher maw breached the rubble less than fifty meters away. Concrete chunks and old wreckage flew in all directions. Grunt roared, Shepard screamed, and Jack swore a blue streak.

 _Soldiers' bodies flew in all directions as it erupted from the earth, right under them._

Grunt and Shepard both let go with incendiary rounds as the maw sprayed acid. Shepard dove to his right, more from instinct than will, and kept screaming as he emptied his clip. Through an earthquake of hazed vision, Shepard saw the hinged jaws of the monster as it reared up higher and stared right at him.

 _Schmitter's scream melted into a gurgle as the acid dissolved his chest._

Jack's warp struck the maw square in the face. The beast screamed in high pitch and dropped back into the earth in a blink. Grunt actually laughed.

 _Hicks screamed as the maw clamped down on his leg. Corporal Shepard clicked his missile launcher to armor piercing and took the son of a bitch just behind the head. He slapped medigel on the stump of Hicks' thigh as another maw came up on their right._

Shepard rolled back up to one knee. He spat dust out of his mouth. The Commander felt like Corporal Shepard as he drew the missile launcher. On instinct, he clicked the weapon to armor piercing.

"Where is it?" Jack shouted.

He watched the rubble peaking over the maw as it ripped through the earth. Earth, sewers, concrete, bodies, wreckage.

 _They ran. For a long time, they ran._

It breached again.

Shepard screamed again. He fired the missile launcher over and over and over—

A jet of acid seared through his shields and struck Shepard in the chest.

 _The acid burned through his armor and seared his body. Shepard kept firing._

Shepard kept firing.

Jack hit Shepard with a throw that kept him from taking a blast of acid in the face. Shepard gagged. He heard Grunt's incendiaries fire again, then the maw dropped below the ground.

Rumbling. Shaking ground. It wasn't done. His armor's medigel storage showed nearly empty.

 _Out of medigel. Out of ammo. Three klicks to the rocks. Corporal Shepard hadn't slept in days, but some part of him reached down into the abyss of his soul and grabbed his hand. Come on._

The maw headed to his right. Shepard finally found his voice. He shouted, "Maw on the right! Big damn snake, coming up!" His shout overcame the tremble in his voice. Grunt looked at him. Shepard pointed. The battle-bloodied krogan roared and charged out of cover, to the top of a pile of rubble, for a clear shot. Jack hunched her shoulders and dug deep. A maelstrom of dark energy, electrified blue, covered her body.

 _Shepard sprinted for the rocks as the rumbling came up behind him. He screamed into the night._

The rumbling rose up less than twenty meters away. Grunt, Jack and Shepard stood their ground. Despair and rage whirled a demon's dance inside Shepard's mind. A half second stretched into an eternity as the maw breached straight up through the concrete. Shepard came face to face with the nightmare. The stench of its cavern mouth and splashing, hissing blood assaulted him. Between the incendiary explosions, Jack's fury, flying rubble, smoke and blood, Shepard saw nothing more than a blur. The fight lasted forever.

The one thing Shepard would remember, later, was when the maw's screech choked off. He had a moment to wonder, then the body slammed into the ground. The blow nearly knocked Shepard off his feet.

Grunt jumped on top of the maw. Covered in blood, he shouted, "I... AM... KROGAN!"

"Ha! Yeah you are, big guy!" Jack cried.

The dead eye of the maw stared at Shepard from behind a trickle of gray blood. Shepard blinked away tears. He had the shakes. He never had the shakes.

 _Shepard blinked away tears. He thought he saw the maw's eye as it returned underground. A baleful glance at the pathetic, lucky human who had set foot on its world, saved from its belly by a mountain of stone._

 _Corporal Shepard screamed his war cry, for his lost brothers and sisters, and the blood he left behind on this planet._

Commander Shepard did, too.


	21. Use the Force

_This prompt was "crossover." Jeana is my Light Side Sith from Star Wars: The Old Republic._

Shepard browsed the dossier of their newest team member. "Lysset, Jeana Lynn. Lieutenant... N5." His eyebrows went up. "Vanguard." They went up higher. Shepard looked up from the dossier. Lieutenant Lysset's brown eyes sparkled at him. Shepard knew that biotics couldn't read minds, but he knew that she knew what he was thinking. Heaven help him if she spent time with Miranda.

"Too small?" she asked.

"Most Vanguards I've met are built like linebackers. You're maybe 1.8 meters tall and sixty kilos soaking wet." He glanced at her dossier again. "Still, your two commendations for bravery speak for themselves. Can't wait to see you in action."

"Thank you, sir. I'm honored to be here."

"Appreciated, but the _Normandy_ 's just like any other ship, LT. We lace up our boots and hate the taste of MRE's like everybody else. Earn your honors in the field and get the job done. "

Lysset shrugged. "Some MRE's aren't bad."

Shepard liked her. "I kind of like the dehydrated ice cream bars myself. Dismissed."

. . .

Blood Pack. Another day at the office.

Shepard, Jeana and Miranda dove under the spray of hot steel to take cover behind a pair of parked transports. Miranda said, "Four left. Five right. Rocket troops—" Shepard and Miranda's transport rocked from an explosion, punching them both in the back. "—in the rear."

Shepard coughed. "Impact shot on the vorcha rocket trooper, then Miranda slams the batarian." He looked at his new Vanguard. "Hit the left side and we'll smash the right."

Jeana's biotics flared a cold halo of blue light. She wore heavy armor, made for her job, but damn if she didn't look small in it. "Ready."

"Go!"

Shepard's concussive shot hit the vorcha rocket trooper high in the chest with an incendiary blast. The vorcha flew through the air, arms and legs flailing and its missile launcher landing in the next county. A krogan nearby fell sideways from the burst. Miranda gave a quick, disdainful whip of her cerulean-glowing hands. The batarian rocket trooper shot into the air and shot back down with a bone-cracking thud. It didn't get up.

Shepard didn't so much see Jeana move as see the aftershocks. The flash of her charge made him blink, then he saw two bodies go flying almost simultaneously. The other two Blood Pack on the left turned on her as he and Miranda pinned down the right side with a hail of gunfire. Shepard thought to cover Jeana, then she leaped into the air, kicked the first merc in the throat and the second in the head. She rolled to the ground and came up with her submachinegun in hand. The last mercenaries went down under the crossfire.

As Jeana walked back to Shepard and Miranda, Shepard said, "Nice moves, Lieutenant. Is it me, or did you take out three of the four hand to hand?"

"Biotic-enhanced krav maga and aikido. It can be deadlier than a gun in close quarters."

Shepard whistled, impressed. Miranda said, "I saw a hammer fist and a wrist throw... and if I'm not mistaken, that last one was a Firebird leap."

Jeana grinned. "Ballet can be a martial art, if you use it properly."

Shepard laughed. Miranda beamed at her new soul sister, and said to Shepard, "This one's a keeper."


	22. Doctor, Doctor

_Two scientists from the Mass Effect universe_

Liara smiled as Shepard left the observation deck. She'd told him that she wanted some time alone before finishing their tour of the SR-2. From the set of his shoulders, the conviction in his eyes, Liara could see the trust they had shared from their missions against Sovereign and Saren. He looked, and felt, two years younger than she. Two years wading through the galactic underworld had taught her that she needed more that the trust in Shepard's eyes to know for sure.

There had been a time when that would have been enough. Liara hated herself for this. Still, she had to know.

Liara walked back to Dr. Solus' lab. The salarian looked up as she entered the room. "Dr. T'Soni. Without Commander Shepard. Somewhat surprising... but not altogether so." Solus stepped away from his equipment and folded his arms.

"Dr. Solus, may I ask you a question, in confidence?"

"Interesting dynamic. Intelligence broker requesting confidence with former STG."

"I'm asking as a friend of Shepard's, not the Shadow Broker." She gestured around the lab. "I'm sure you have the means to assess whether or not I'm lying rather easily."

"Indeed. And suspect I already know the nature of your inquiry." Mordin stood more relaxed. He bowed politely. "Yes, doctor. Of course."

Liara leaned on the lab table. "Is the man commanding this ship truly Commander Shepard?"

"Yes. As much as he could be, yes." Before Liara could ask what in the world that meant, Mordin continued, "Compared DNA analysis from last Alliance physical exam, pre-Alchera armor data logs, post-Alchera armor logs, and blood sample from helmet recovered from Alchera." Liara's eyes widened. "Emotionally traumatized. Shepard left helmet with me along with other artifacts from expedition. Took liberty of collecting sample to satisfy my own curiosity."

Liara smothered her disgust at Mordin's clinical dispassion in studying her friend. She'd already done worse while immersing herself in the galaxy's underworld. "And the analyses matched?"

"Within a .001% deviation, yes. Well within deviations due to change in diet, illness, emotional state, wound recovery, gravitational anomaly, recent meals. Example: cloned tissue closer to .1%."

"Thank you. Thank you." She leaned toward him. "How did they do it?"

"More curious to know what you've uncovered, doctor."

Liara nodded. "Cerberus is a secret organization, but even they have cracks of light from within their shadows. Most of it is rumor and hearsay. Bleeding-edge technology based on reverse-engineering prothean technology... or krogan regeneration... or even rachni regeneration."

"Rachni! Hardly. Too many variables. Vertebrate-invertebrate differentiation alone creates dichotomy as cells replicate. pH level of blood incompatible as well."

"Prothean genetics were an interesting thought. Especially with the Eden Prime imprint on his brain."

"Indeed. Unique. Could provide a template for regeneration of cells. Similar to using a photograph to re-create the original three-dimensional object."

Liara smiled. "You still sound like you examined the possibility."

"Of course. Must examine all potential avenues. Fascinating study. But we digress. Shepard is waiting."

"Yes. Of course." Liara held out her hand. "A pleasure, doctor."

"Doctor."

Liara left the laboratory, relieved and intrigued. She let it go. She was here to see her friend.


	23. Riding Out the Storm

_Weather; Shepard + one another_

The waters of Lake Macquarie chopped with whitecaps as the wind picked up. From the cabin's kitchen, Shepard glanced at the horizon. Gray clouds, ominous harbingers of the biggest storm of the summer, moved in. Even in summer, the air felt cool, like autumn. Shepard didn't hear thunder yet. It wouldn't be far away.

Shepard collected the lavender tea that he'd had brewing in the sun, while Miranda gathered her favorite sweater—a summer Aran knit—and his favorite sweatshirt—the hooded N7 one. Relaxing jazz from an asari chanteuse played in the living room. Shepard swallowed. The thought of the word "thunder" brought the sound of explosions into his mind. He caught himself gripping the edge of the stove. He breathed a relaxing breath. "I'm here. I'm safe. It's over," he whispered. It had only been a year since the end of the war, and both of them still had trouble with thunderstorms.

A cool, fresh breeze blew into Shepard's face from the window. "It's almost here," Shepard said as he shut the window.

"Weather map agrees with you," Miranda said. She rubbed her arms. Miranda shut another window down to a crack. Fresh air would be nice, but having too many windows open turned a house into a stereo speaker. Their dog, a yellow labrador named Petey, trotted behind her. The dog whined. Storms didn't bother Petey, but the dog knew that it bothered them.

Shepard brought a tray with the tea, glasses, and snacks into the living room. As he put down the tray on the coffee table, Miranda put down pictures of them with their friends and family that they'd taken since the end of the war. The pictures helped. Shepard put on the N7 shirt while Miranda put on her sweater—their cuddle wear. They both fell into the couch. The first rumble of thunder reached them.

"Oh, shit," Shepard said.

"Here it comes," Miranda added.

Shepard felt gooseflesh on his arms. His stomach went into knots. Miranda huddled close to him as he wrapped his arms around her. Petey climbed onto the couch and laid down over their legs. He wasn't a service dog, but he knew when both of them needed some extra love. Miranda rubbed the dog's ears.

"I used to like thunderstorms as a child. All that magical lightning," Miranda said.

"Me too. The great, big booms. Like a rock concert."

Miranda chuckled. "We will again. Soon enough." The thunder rolled again. She sighed. Shepard kissed her hair. They each took a glass of tea, clinked, and drank as lightning flashed outside.


	24. Archangel's Ghosts

_What you don't want to remember; anyone other than Shepard_

No one met the turian's gaze as he walked through the Kima district toward Archangel's old fortress. He wore a small pack over his shoulders and carried a battle-worn M6 on one hip and a blade on the other. Between the Talons, the mercenaries, and random criminals that came out after nightfall, the only one safe to walk in Kima District at this hour was another killer. No one met the turian's gaze.

Not that most of them had anything to fear from him. Garrus had protected most of these people for over a year as Archangel.

As he crossed the bridge to the old apartment, he smiled as he walked past the spot where he pinged Shepard in the helmet. He recognized half of the blast holes, burned in when the mercenaries had nearly killed him. Cerberus and the Talons must have caused the rest, collateral damage from when Shepard helped Aria take back Omega.

Just like old times.

Garrus crossed a blasted, burned floor, the rickety remnants of the stairs, and nearly twisted an ankle when the floor gave way as he approached to the balcony where he'd held off the mercenaries.

He unslung his pack. Garrus unzipped it and pulled out a bouquet of white turian roses that he'd brought from the Citadel. You couldn't get them on Palaven. Too much of the planet was still covered in ashes. He laid them out one at a time on floor.

"Viris." Their radio man, with bad taste in cigarettes and good taste in music. He still listened to blues today because of Viris.

"Camlin." Demolitions. Viris' sister. She never made a boobytrap she didn't like. Garrus smiled, thinking of a charge she set with a package of fireworks along with it.

"Malia." Garrus held his breath. He remembered Malia's body when he found the massacre at their hideout. She died with a pistol in her hands, blocking the back door. Malia was their hacker. She couldn't shoot like the others, but she always did her part.

 _Shit_. He knew this would tear him up, but he didn't know how much.

"Tancus." Sniper—a woman after his own heart. Thinking of the grin under T's red face paint after a difficult shot helped Garrus feel better. He liked to brag about how well he could shoot, but even he picked up one or two things from Tancus.

"Oroso." You couldn't see the tremble in his hand, but you saw it in the tips of the rose as he put it down. He met Oroso in Spectre training, and he was the first to join him when he left. Oroso worked as a bartender at Afterlife for a year. Aria had no idea that he ID'd everyone who came to see her.

Garrus sighed. He felt like he stood in the room in Garen district again. This time it felt less like murder, and more like a funeral.

"Silea." Medic, and a good chemist, too. She could make medigel and painkillers out of household chemicals, even the crap you found on Omega. She told him it was better he didn't know where their supplies it came from.

"Rutina." Assassin. When they realized that Aria had discovered their operation, she had the idea of taking out the highest-ranking members of rival gangs to show her whose side they were on. Aria let them work as they pleased after that, as long as they didn't get in her way. Rutina was tough to get to know. She liked it that way.

"Veter." Intelligence. Garrus laughed, and almost started crying. Veter could disguise himself as your shadow, and you would tell your friends no one stood there. At one point, Veter had infiltrated two gangs and the Blue Suns all at the same time. One of the gangs tagged him to kill the "turian badass" in the other gang. He faked his own death, took the money, and moved higher up in the gang.

"Amulin." Assassin, and a hell of a card player. They'd played cards to wind down after every mission. Garrus could still remember that grin that never meant what you thought it did, behind that hand of cards. Garrus had anonymously sent the money he owed Amulin to his niece on Palaven.

"Canso." Supply and contraband. She'd moved to Omega after coming out on the bad end of a career of a power struggle in a mercenary unit. Garrus didn't remember the unit's name. Canso kept them up to their elbows in food, munitions, you name it, she could get it.

Garrus clenched his fist. Two were left. One had just been a kid, for spirits' sake.

"Falin." She knew Omega like the back of her hand. She said she was born there. No one believed her—she seemed far too decent—but at least a dozen times she helped them escape a blown mission through alleys and tunnels that weren't on any of their maps.

"Sidonis." Enough said.

He closed his eyes. Like every other time he'd closed his eyes since that night, he saw their bodies where they lay in the shredded hideout. This time, it felt like they stood there with him.

Garrus said, "We said we were going to make a difference. I got all of you killed. I'm sorry." He touched the petals with his fingertips. "Believe me when I tell you, we did make a difference. Just not in the way we thought."

Garrus said their names again. He closed his eyes, and held a moment of silence with his ghosts.


	25. Driving a Beach Ball

_Prompt: "first mistakes"_

Shepard's heart fell out of his chest as the Normandy released the Mako. The vehicle sailed toward Therum like a fastball thrown by last year's Cy Young award winner. "Hate this part," Shepard muttered, as he watched numbers on the altimeter race toward zero.

"You do know how to land this thing," Garrus said.

Shepard chuckled. "Technically, no. Because I don't land it." He grinned. Garrus' eyes widened as the horizon came up and the Mako slammed into the ground, skipping across a wide plain that Joker had chosen for their landing zone. Shepard gave the mass effect fields a glance to make sure they showed green before he said, "Whoo! Just like a roller coaster!"

Ash grinned. Garrus rolled his eyes at his maniac human teammates. The Mako's stabilizer kicked in and the Mako settled to a stop.

Shepard checked the map while Ash and Garrus manned the weapons. "Liara's dig site is about fifty klicks out. The terrain's pretty uneven." Shepard sighed. "Don't get your hopes up."

"On what, skipper?" Ash asked.

"Just... keep your belts on."

"Terrain doesn't look that bad," Garrus said.

"Have you ever ridden in a Mako before?" Shepard asked. Garrus shook his head. "The landing's the easy part."

Shepard hit the gas and the Mako started rolling. It lifted off from a low hill and sailed about twenty meters before it came back down. Garrus laughed. Shepard felt himself sweating inside his armor. Another hill was coming up with a funny twist of rocks ahead of it...

Shepard hit the thrusters to try to sail over the reaching fingers of stone. He timed it wrong and the Mako's front end clipped the rocks, aiming the tank head-on for the ground. Everyone swore in their favorite language as the Mako crashed into the hill. Seat belts bruised Shepard's shoulders and inertial fields made it hard to breathe for a moment. Now the insult after the injury: because of its mass effect fields, the Mako kept bouncing instead of just stopping face-first in the ground.

Shepard didn't count how many times they bounced, but when it was over, they landed upside-down.

"For Heaven's sake," Ash moaned.

"Haven't you driven one of these before?" Garrus asked.

"Yes. And it happens every fucking time," Shepard growled. He punched the ceiling.

The radio crackled. "I win the pool!" Joker said. "Do you guys need a lift?"

"No, we don't need a goddamned lift," Shepard said. He glanced over his shoulder. "Ash, point the main gun into the ground and fire a round of high explosive."

The blast from the explosion heaved the tank over again. It rocked far enough that it nearly tipped onto its other side. Shepard swore again, tapping the gas and working the steering to keep them upright.

The Mako settled to a stop. Shepard dropped his head onto the steering controls. "All right. Let's try this again." Ash and Garrus both tightened their belts.


End file.
